View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
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Script:
I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.
Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.
To explain why requires a very brief civics review.
The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/do-you-understand-electoral-college

published:18 May 2015

views:2261564

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
Subscribe: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe
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In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral CollegeRuinsDemocracy

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
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Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
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Script:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?
Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.
Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.
Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.
Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly DemocraticCalifornia calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.
NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.
Why?
Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.
Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.
Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/popular-vote-vs-electoral-college

published:18 May 2015

views:1319098

Rebutting College Humor's "AdamRuins the Electoral College" BS: Why our constitutional republic is a perfect system.
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United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today, it has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington DC has three electoral college members.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.
Winning electoral votes is mostly achieved by winning the popular vote in each state. WinCalifornia’s popular vote and you take home the state’s 55 electoral votes. Win the popular vote in Texas and you are awarded that state’s 38 electoral votes.
This is called a winner-take-all system.
But sometimes, a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but doesn’t amass enough electoral votes. This happened in 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won Florida in a close contest.
Bush’s win in Florida was enough to give him the electoral vote victory, and the presidency, despite Gore beating Bush by roughly half a million popular votes.
Usually the electoral college and the popular vote produce the same winner. Only four times in America’s history has the popular vote been different from the electoral vote.
----------------------------------------­­---------------------------------------­-­----------------
NextAnimationStudio’s News Direct service provides daily, high-quality, informative 3D news animations that fill in for missing footage and help viewers understand breaking news stories or in-depth features on science, technology, and health.
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Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations, political parties, or entities, with each organization, political party or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important people whose wisdom would ideally provide a better choice than a larger body. The system can ignore the wishes of a general membership.

Origins of electoral colleges

Early Germanic law stated that the German king led only with the support of his nobles. Thus, Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming king of Asturias, and so did Pepin the Short by Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian king. While most other Germanic nations had developed a strictly hereditary system by the end of the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire did not, and the King of the Romans, who would become Holy Roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect, was selected by the college of prince-electors from the late Middle Ages until 1806 (the last election took place in 1792).

In the United States and Italy, "college" formally refers to a constituent part of a university, but generally "college" and "university" are used interchangeably, whereas in Oceania and South Asia, "college" may refer to a secondary or high school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, or a constituent part of a university (See this comparison of British and American English educational terminology for further information).

Etymology

In ancient Rome a collegium was a club or society, a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose" or "I read").

Adam Ruins Everything

Adam Ruins Everything is a sketch comedy/educational television show starring Adam Conover that debuted on September 29, 2015 on truTV. On January 7, 2016, it was announced that the show had been picked up for a 14 additional episodes to air starting in August 2016. The series aims to shine light on popular false impressions and trends, debunking false ideas in society.

Synopsis

Adam Ruins Everything is based on a CollegeHumor web series of the same name, and stars comedian Adam Conover (who was also the star of the CollegeHumor series) as the host. In the show, Conover debunks misconceptions with what the show calls "annoying facts", backing up his points by lecturing the audience, appearing in skits, interviewing experts, and citing references on-screen.
Adam has said on a Twitch.tv stream that DVDs could potentially be released.

The half-hour-long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 17, 1998. Jon Stewart then took over as the host from January 11, 1999 until August 6, 2015, making the show more strongly focused on politics and the national media, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn's tenure. Stewart was succeeded by Trevor Noah, whose tenure premiered on September 28, 2015. The Daily Show is the longest-running program on Comedy Central (counting all three tenures), and has won 22 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Describing itself as a fake news program, The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, and often aspects of the show itself. During Stewart's tenure, the show typically opened with a long monologue, relating to recent headlines and frequently featured exchanges with one or more of several correspondents, who adopted absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against Stewart's straight manpersona. The final segment was devoted to a celebrity interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to nonfiction authors and political figures.

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

How the Electoral College Works

Do You Understand the Electoral College?

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup
Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
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Script:
I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.
Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.
To explain why requires a very brief civics review.
The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/do-you-understand-electoral-college

4:47

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
Subscribe: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe
Watch Full Episodes for FREE: http://bit.ly/1Rw2yzp
In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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Watch clips, sneak peeks and exclusives from original shows like Adam Ruins Everything, Friends of the People, Hack My Life and more – plus fresh video from hit shows like Impractical Jokers and The Carbonaro Effect.
Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral CollegeRuinsDemocracy

The Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup
Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG
Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5e
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Script:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?
Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.
Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.
Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.
Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly DemocraticCalifornia calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.
NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.
Why?
Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.
Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.
Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/popular-vote-vs-electoral-college

Professor makes case for the Electoral College

What is the U.S. electoral college and how does it work?

United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today, it has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington DC has three electoral college members.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.
Winning electoral votes is mostly achieved by winning the popular vote in each state. WinCalifornia’s popular vote and you take home the state’s 55 electoral votes. Win the popular vote in Texas and you are awarded that state’s 38 electoral votes.
This is called a winner-take-all system.
But sometimes, a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but doesn’t amass enough electoral votes. This happened in 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won Florida in a close contest.
Bush’s win in Florida was enough to give him the electoral vote victory, and the presidency, despite Gore beating Bush by roughly half a million popular votes.
Usually the electoral college and the popular vote produce the same winner. Only four times in America’s history has the popular vote been different from the electoral vote.
----------------------------------------­­---------------------------------------­-­----------------
NextAnimationStudio’s News Direct service provides daily, high-quality, informative 3D news animations that fill in for missing footage and help viewers understand breaking news stories or in-depth features on science, technology, and health.
Sign up for a free trial of News Direct's news animations at http://newsdirect.nextanimation.com.tw/Reuters.aspx
To subscribe to News Direct or for more info, please visit:
http://newsdirect.nextanimation.com.tw/Index.aspx

15:34

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

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In this video:
In this video, we're looking at how the electoral college system actually works and why it is that the United States uses the electoral college instead of the popular vote to decide who gets to be president.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/america-doesnt-use-simple-vote-count-deciding-next-president/
Sources:
http://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/20/rakove-electoral-college-082012/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/elecprocess.html
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/would-al-gore-have-won-in-2000-without-the-electoral-college/?_r=0
http://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/veep-season-5-fact-checked
http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/The%20Electoral%20College%20(Jan.%202011).pdf
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://old.post-gazette.com/election/20001217pztimeline.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-election-facts
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/17/the-legacy-of-hanging-chads
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores2.html
http://www.history.com/topics/electoral-college
http://www.dcte.udel.edu/hlp/resources/newnation/pdfs/PopEstim.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-REV-2014-9-3.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2012-certificates
http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=967
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/1023.full.pdf+html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/national-popular-vote.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS9mM8Xbbw
ImageCredit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_population_per_electoral_vote.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maine_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_seen_from_the_United_States_Supreme_Court,_Washington,_DC_-_20080326.jpg

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

published: 01 Nov 2012

How the Electoral College Works

Do You Understand the Electoral College?

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
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published: 18 May 2015

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
Subscribe: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe
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In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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Electoral College - Schoolhouse Rock

The Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
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Rebutting College Humor's "AdamRuins the Electoral College" BS: Why our constitutional republic is a perfect system.
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Professor makes case for the Electoral College

What is the U.S. electoral college and how does it work?

United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today,...

published: 08 Jul 2016

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

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In this video:
In this video, we're looking at how the electoral college system actually works and why it is that the United States uses the electoral college instead of the popular vote to decide who gets to be president.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/america-doesnt-use-simple-vote-count-deciding-next-president/
Sources:
http://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/20/rakove-electoral-college-082012/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reas...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your ind...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

Do You Understand the Electoral College?

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? ...

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
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Script:
I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.
Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.
To explain why requires a very brief civics review.
The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/do-you-understand-electoral-college

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup
Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG
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Join Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ys
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Script:
I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.
Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.
To explain why requires a very brief civics review.
The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/do-you-understand-electoral-college

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
Subscribe: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe
Watch Full Episodes for FREE: http://bit.ly/1Rw2yzp
In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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Watch clips, sneak peeks and exclusives from original shows like Adam Ruins Everything, Friends of the People, Hack My Life and more – plus fresh video from hit shows like Impractical Jokers and The Carbonaro Effect.
Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral CollegeRuinsDemocracy

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
Subscribe: http://full.sc/1s9KQGe
Watch Full Episodes for FREE: http://bit.ly/1Rw2yzp
In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral CollegeRuinsDemocracy

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup
Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
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Script:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?
Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.
Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.
Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.
Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly DemocraticCalifornia calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.
NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.
Why?
Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.
Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.
Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/popular-vote-vs-electoral-college

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt
Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup
Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips.
iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG
Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5e
Join Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ys
Join PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageru
Do you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful.
VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.com
FOLLOW us!
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Script:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?
Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.
Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.
Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.
Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly DemocraticCalifornia calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.
NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.
Why?
Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.
Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.
Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/popular-vote-vs-electoral-college

United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today, it has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington DC has three electoral college members.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.
Winning electoral votes is mostly achieved by winning the popular vote in each state. WinCalifornia’s popular vote and you take home the state’s 55 electoral votes. Win the popular vote in Texas and you are awarded that state’s 38 electoral votes.
This is called a winner-take-all system.
But sometimes, a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but doesn’t amass enough electoral votes. This happened in 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won Florida in a close contest.
Bush’s win in Florida was enough to give him the electoral vote victory, and the presidency, despite Gore beating Bush by roughly half a million popular votes.
Usually the electoral college and the popular vote produce the same winner. Only four times in America’s history has the popular vote been different from the electoral vote.
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United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today, it has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington DC has three electoral college members.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.
Winning electoral votes is mostly achieved by winning the popular vote in each state. WinCalifornia’s popular vote and you take home the state’s 55 electoral votes. Win the popular vote in Texas and you are awarded that state’s 38 electoral votes.
This is called a winner-take-all system.
But sometimes, a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but doesn’t amass enough electoral votes. This happened in 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won Florida in a close contest.
Bush’s win in Florida was enough to give him the electoral vote victory, and the presidency, despite Gore beating Bush by roughly half a million popular votes.
Usually the electoral college and the popular vote produce the same winner. Only four times in America’s history has the popular vote been different from the electoral vote.
----------------------------------------­­---------------------------------------­-­----------------
NextAnimationStudio’s News Direct service provides daily, high-quality, informative 3D news animations that fill in for missing footage and help viewers understand breaking news stories or in-depth features on science, technology, and health.
Sign up for a free trial of News Direct's news animations at http://newsdirect.nextanimation.com.tw/Reuters.aspx
To subscribe to News Direct or for more info, please visit:
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published:08 Jul 2016

views:72978

back

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

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In this video:
In this video, we're looking at how the electoral college system actually works and why it is that the United States uses the electoral college instead of the popular vote to decide who gets to be president.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/america-doesnt-use-simple-vote-count-deciding-next-president/
Sources:
http://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/20/rakove-electoral-college-082012/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/elecprocess.html
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/would-al-gore-have-won-in-2000-without-the-electoral-college/?_r=0
http://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/veep-season-5-fact-checked
http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/The%20Electoral%20College%20(Jan.%202011).pdf
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://old.post-gazette.com/election/20001217pztimeline.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-election-facts
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/17/the-legacy-of-hanging-chads
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores2.html
http://www.history.com/topics/electoral-college
http://www.dcte.udel.edu/hlp/resources/newnation/pdfs/PopEstim.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-REV-2014-9-3.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2012-certificates
http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=967
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/1023.full.pdf+html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/national-popular-vote.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS9mM8Xbbw
ImageCredit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_population_per_electoral_vote.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maine_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_seen_from_the_United_States_Supreme_Court,_Washington,_DC_-_20080326.jpg

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Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week!
In this video:
In this video, we're looking at how the electoral college system actually works and why it is that the United States uses the electoral college instead of the popular vote to decide who gets to be president.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/america-doesnt-use-simple-vote-count-deciding-next-president/
Sources:
http://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/20/rakove-electoral-college-082012/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/elecprocess.html
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/would-al-gore-have-won-in-2000-without-the-electoral-college/?_r=0
http://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/veep-season-5-fact-checked
http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/The%20Electoral%20College%20(Jan.%202011).pdf
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://old.post-gazette.com/election/20001217pztimeline.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-election-facts
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/17/the-legacy-of-hanging-chads
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores2.html
http://www.history.com/topics/electoral-college
http://www.dcte.udel.edu/hlp/resources/newnation/pdfs/PopEstim.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-REV-2014-9-3.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2012-certificates
http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=967
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/1023.full.pdf+html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/national-popular-vote.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS9mM8Xbbw
ImageCredit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_population_per_electoral_vote.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maine_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_seen_from_the_United_States_Supreme_Court,_Washington,_DC_-_20080326.jpg

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/does-your-vote-count-the-electoral-college-explained-christina-greer
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways--and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
Lesson by ChristinaGreer, animation by MarkedAnimation.

Do You Understand the Electoral College?

Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert TaraRoss does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
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Script:
I want to talk you about the Electoral College and why it matters.
Alright, I know this doesn't sound the like most sensational topic of the day, but, stay with me because, I promise you, it's one of the most important.
To explain why requires a very brief civics review.
The President and Vice President of the United States are not chosen by a nationwide, popular vote of the American people; rather, they are chosen by 538 electors. This process is spelled out in the United States Constitution.
Why didn't the Founders just make it easy, and let the Presidential candidate with the most votes claim victory? Why did they create, and why do we continue to need, this Electoral College?
The answer is critical to understanding not only the Electoral College, but also America.
The Founders had no intention of creating a pure majority-rule democracy. They knew from careful study of history what most have forgotten today, or never learned: pure democracies do not work.
They implode.
Democracy has been colorfully described as two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for dinner. In a pure democracy, bare majorities can easily tyrannize the rest of a country. The Founders wanted to avoid this at all costs.
This is why we have three branches of government -- Executive, Legislative and Judicial. It's why each state has two Senators no matter what its population, but also different numbers of Representatives based entirely on population. It's why it takes a supermajority in Congress and three-quarters of the states to change the Constitution.
And, it's why we have the Electoral College.
Here's how the Electoral College works.
The Presidential election happens in two phases. The first phase is purely democratic. We hold 51 popular elections every presidential election year: one in each state and one in D.C.
On Election Day in 2012, you may have thought you were voting for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, but you were really voting for a slate of presidential electors. In Rhode Island, for example, if you voted for Barack Obama, you voted for the state's four Democratic electors; if you voted for Mitt Romney you were really voting for the state's four Republican electors.
Part Two of the election is held in December. And it is this December election among the states' 538 electors, not the November election, which officially determines the identity of the next President. At least 270 votes are needed to win.
Why is this so important?
Because the system encourages coalition-building and national campaigning. In order to win, a candidate must have the support of many different types of voters, from various parts of the country.
Winning only the South or the Midwest is not good enough. You cannot win 270 electoral votes if only one part of the country is supporting you.
But if winning were only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities or the biggest states. Why would that candidate care about what people in West Virginia or Iowa or Montana think?
But, you might ask, isn't the election really only about the so-called swing states?
Actually, no. If nothing else, safe and swing states are constantly changing.
California voted safely Republican as recently as 1988. Texas used to vote Democrat. Neither New Hampshire nor Virginia used to be swing states.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/do-you-understand-electoral-college

4:47

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts...

Adam Ruins Everything - Why the Electoral College Ruins Democracy

All men are created equal, but their votes sure aren't. Adam explains how location impacts your voting power.
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In Adam Ruins Everything, host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted. A blend of entertainment and enlightenment, Adam Ruins Everything is like that friend who knows a little bit too much about everything and is going to tell you about it... whether you like it or not.
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7:45

Making Sense of the Electoral College: The Daily Show

As the Electoral College prepares to make Donald Trump's presidency official, Thomas Jeffe...

The Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College

Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert TaraRoss explains.
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Script:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?
Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.
Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.
Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.
Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly DemocraticCalifornia calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.
NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.
Why?
Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.
Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.
Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/popular-vote-vs-electoral-college

What is the U.S. electoral college and how does it work?

United States citizens over the age of 18 can choose to vote in presidential elections. This is called the popular vote.
But American voters don’t actually pick the president through a majority vote. That’s the job of the electoral college. In 2016, a candidate will need at least 270 electoral votes to become president.
This system is strange to many, but it goes back to the earliest days of the founding of the United States of America.The founding fathers created the electoral college because they worried states with smaller populations might not be fairly represented.
They also didn’t think the “common man” was informed enough to choose a suitable president. So they created the electoral college, which is a group of selectors who cast votes as representatives of each state.
Today, it has 538 members. That’s one for every member of the House of Representatives and Senate, representing all 50 states. In addition, Washington DC has three electoral college members.
To win the presidency, a candidate must win at least 270 electoral votes.
Winning electoral votes is mostly achieved by winning the popular vote in each state. WinCalifornia’s popular vote and you take home the state’s 55 electoral votes. Win the popular vote in Texas and you are awarded that state’s 38 electoral votes.
This is called a winner-take-all system.
But sometimes, a candidate wins the popular vote nationally but doesn’t amass enough electoral votes. This happened in 2000 when Democratic candidate Al Gore won the popular vote nationwide, but RepublicanGeorge W. Bush won Florida in a close contest.
Bush’s win in Florida was enough to give him the electoral vote victory, and the presidency, despite Gore beating Bush by roughly half a million popular votes.
Usually the electoral college and the popular vote produce the same winner. Only four times in America’s history has the popular vote been different from the electoral vote.
----------------------------------------­­---------------------------------------­-­----------------
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15:34

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

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Why Does the United States Use the Electoral College and Not a Popular Vote to Decide the President?

→Subscribe for new videos every day!
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Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week!
In this video:
In this video, we're looking at how the electoral college system actually works and why it is that the United States uses the electoral college instead of the popular vote to decide who gets to be president.
Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/09/america-doesnt-use-simple-vote-count-deciding-next-president/
Sources:
http://news.stanford.edu/2012/08/20/rakove-electoral-college-082012/
http://www.factcheck.org/2008/02/the-reason-for-the-electoral-college/
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/elections/elecprocess.html
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/31/politics/bush-gore-2000-election-results-studies/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/would-al-gore-have-won-in-2000-without-the-electoral-college/?_r=0
http://www.rollcall.com/news/hoh/veep-season-5-fact-checked
http://www.eac.gov/assets/1/Documents/The%20Electoral%20College%20(Jan.%202011).pdf
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://old.post-gazette.com/election/20001217pztimeline.asp
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/presidential-election-facts
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/01/17/the-legacy-of-hanging-chads
http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores2.html
http://www.history.com/topics/electoral-college
http://www.dcte.udel.edu/hlp/resources/newnation/pdfs/PopEstim.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/content/conan/pdf/GPO-CONAN-REV-2014-9-3.pdf
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2012-certificates
http://archive.fairvote.org/?page=967
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/the-electoral-college.aspx
http://history.house.gov/Institution/Electoral-College/Electoral-College/
http://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-xii
http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/5/1023.full.pdf+html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/national-popular-vote.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS9mM8Xbbw
ImageCredit:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:State_population_per_electoral_vote.png
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maine_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nebraska_in_United_States.svg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_seen_from_the_United_States_Supreme_Court,_Washington,_DC_-_20080326.jpg

Why Does the United States Use the Electoral Colle...

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Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society announced Monday that an object called 1I/2017 (‘Oumuamua) – the first confirmed asteroid known to have journeyed here from outside our solar system – most likely came from from a binary star system, or two stars orbiting a common center of gravity, EarthSky reported ... They looked at how common these star systems are in the galaxy ... ....

In another blow to the Trump administration Monday, the US Supreme Court decided Arizona must continue to issue state driver’s licenses to so-called Dreamer immigrants and refused to hear an effort by the state to challenge the Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of young adults brought into the country illegally as children, Reuters reported ... – WN.com. Jack Durschlag....

Uber announced on Monday that it was pulling all of its self-driving cars from public roads in Arizona and San Francisco, Toronto, and Pittsburgh after a female pedestrian was reportedly killed after being struck by an autonomous Uber vehicle in Tempe, according to The Verge.&nbsp; ... “We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.” ... "Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona....

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In case you missed it, she won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but lost the ElectoralCollege. Like it or not, our electoral system was set up this way — with both a popular vote and the ElectoralCollege — ostensibly as a bulwark against mob rule ... Trump’s unexpected victory meant that the “mob,” as perceived by Clinton supporters, merged with the ElectoralCollege to pick a populist demagogue....

HARTFORD — After gaining the support of Democratic leadership in February, a proposal to give all of Connecticut’s electoralcollege votes to the winner of the popular vote received hours of public comment at the Capitol Monday. Connecticut’s top elections official, Secretary of the StateDenise Merrill testified in favor of the “one person, one vote” initiative, along with many local activists ... ....

Kathmandu, March 18. With the election of CPN-Maoist Centre lawmaker Shashikala Dahal as deputy chairperson of the National Assembly today, Upper and Lower Houses of the FederalParliament have got full shape with all posts filled ... Timilsina later announced Dahal’s victory ... President Bidhya Devi Bhandari was re-elected as the president by an electoralcollege comprising members of the Federal Parliament and provincial assemblies ... ....

“Today, we have appointed a hard iron heart like Martin Amidu to be in charge of fighting corruption and some people in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) are angry. Their counterparts in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are equally angry ... He advised against the narrowing of the electoralcollege of the party because such an action lacked moral legitimacy and was tantamount to giving people their freedom and taking it back from them ... ....

The key messages of this year's Republican congressional campaigns were supposed to be simple ones. Tax cuts are good, and Nancy Pelosi is bad ... But this year appears to be different for both parties ... But while such national polls can indicate the country's larger mood, they do not mean anything in specific races, as Hillary Clinton's 2-point popular vote victory but ElectoralCollege loss in 2016 certainly illustrated ... ....

Trump Imitation Day will take place online on April 1, this April Fools’ Day, 2018—a day driven by the vast and varied online networks of America with all of their imagination and organizational capability ...Tit for tat ... OK America, give him some of his own medicine and watch him flail, bellow and smear until his ugly persona crumbles beyond the sixty percent of the American people who already reject this ElectoralCollege selectee ... ....

As Donald Trump’s executive orders punishing steel and aluminum imports threaten a trade war around the globe, Republicans on Capitol Hill are debating whether to reassert Congress’s ultimate constitutional authority over tariffs and trade ... This posture was especially clear on matters of trade ... Taft carried only two states (Utah and Vermont) and Roosevelt carried six, guaranteeing an electoral-college landslide for Woodrow Wilson ... ....

Des Moines Register. March 15, 2018. Iowa's elected officials ignore the needs of seniors. The GOP's dedication to tax cuts and starving government has resulted in huge cuts to agencies designed to help vulnerable people. Unfortunately these agencies are headed by political appointees who do not consider seniors a priority either ... ———— ... And, like the ElectoralCollege, it's another attempt at favoring acreage over actual voters ... ———— ... ... ——— ... ....

Clinton did receive nearly 3 million more votes than Trump, yet our ElectoralCollege system doesn’t care about the popular vote ... Advocates say the interstate compact would preserve the ElectoralCollege and state control of elections, while ensuring that every vote in every state would matter ... Any change to the ElectoralCollege rubbed him the wrong way....

In case you missed it, she won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes but lost the ElectoralCollege. Like it or not, our electoral system was set up this way — with both a popular vote and the ElectoralCollege — ostensibly as a bulwark against mob rule. Americans hate or love the ElectoralCollege, depending on whether it benefits them....